Urgent question about Thread-safety

Question

Hi all,
the new tiger release provides an "isReachable()" method for the "InetAddress" object.
I've found, this method is not thread-safe (see the source and output below).
It returns true for all threads, when multiple threads using this method with different adresses are running at a time and one of the addresses is reachable. This happens only on WinXp. Running on Linux, the output is like expected.
I've tried to report this as a bug. But the gurus answered, taking care of thread safety would be a "programmers task".
My question is, what can I do, to be thread-safe in my case?
W.U.
import java.util.*;
import java.net.*;
public class IsReachableTest_1 extends Thread{
    static volatile int inst=1;
    static final String NET_ADDR="192.168.111.";
    int instance=inst++;
    public void run(){
        for(int i=19;i<23;i++){
            try{
                long start=System.nanoTime();
                if(InetAddress.getByName(NET_ADDR+i).isReachable(1000))
                    System.out.println(""+instance+"--host found at:"+NET_ADDR+i+"--time:"+(System.nanoTime()-start)/1000000);
                else
                    System.out.println(""+instance+"--no host at:"+NET_ADDR+i);
            }catch(Exception e){System.out.println(""+instance+"--ERROR "+e.toString());}
        System.out.println(""+instance+"--done.");
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        System.out.println(
            System.getProperty("java.vendor")+" "+
            System.getProperty("java.version")+" running on "+
            System.getProperty("os.name")+" "+
            System.getProperty("os.version"));
        Vector v=new Vector();
        System.out.println("\nTest 1: One after another:");
        for(int i=0;i<10;i++){
            IsReachableTest_1 t;
            t=new IsReachableTest_1();
            t.start();
            try{
                t.join();
            }catch(Exception e){System.out.println("MAIN1: "+e.toString());}
        System.out.println("\nTest 2: All together:");
        inst=1;
        for(int i=0;i<10;i++){
            IsReachableTest_1 t;
            t=new IsReachableTest_1();
            t.start();
            v.addElement(t);
        for(Iterator i=v.iterator();i.hasNext();)
            try{
                ((IsReachableTest_1)i.next()).join();
            }catch(Exception e){System.out.println("MAIN2: "+e.toString());}
            System.out.println("\nALL DONE");
And here is the output, when running on WinXp:
Sun Microsystems Inc. 1.5.0-beta running on Windows XP 5.1
Test 1: One after another:
1--no host at:192.168.111.19
1--no host at:192.168.111.20
1--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:2
1--no host at:192.168.111.22
1--done.
2--no host at:192.168.111.19
2--no host at:192.168.111.20
2--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:4
2--no host at:192.168.111.22
2--done.
3--no host at:192.168.111.19
3--no host at:192.168.111.20
3--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
3--no host at:192.168.111.22
3--done.
4--no host at:192.168.111.19
4--no host at:192.168.111.20
4--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
4--no host at:192.168.111.22
4--done.
5--no host at:192.168.111.19
5--no host at:192.168.111.20
5--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:3
5--no host at:192.168.111.22
5--done.
6--no host at:192.168.111.19
6--no host at:192.168.111.20
6--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
6--no host at:192.168.111.22
6--done.
7--no host at:192.168.111.19
7--no host at:192.168.111.20
7--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
7--no host at:192.168.111.22
7--done.
8--no host at:192.168.111.19
8--no host at:192.168.111.20
8--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
8--no host at:192.168.111.22
8--done.
9--no host at:192.168.111.19
9--no host at:192.168.111.20
9--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
9--no host at:192.168.111.22
9--done.
10--no host at:192.168.111.19
10--no host at:192.168.111.20
10--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
10--no host at:192.168.111.22
10--done.
Test 2: All together:
1--no host at:192.168.111.19
2--no host at:192.168.111.19
3--no host at:192.168.111.19
4--no host at:192.168.111.19
5--no host at:192.168.111.19
6--no host at:192.168.111.19
7--no host at:192.168.111.19
8--no host at:192.168.111.19
9--no host at:192.168.111.19
10--no host at:192.168.111.19
2--no host at:192.168.111.20
3--no host at:192.168.111.20
6--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:924 <----- this host does not exist!!
5--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:961 <----- this host does not exist!!
10--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:778 <----- this host does not exist!!
9--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:815 <----- this host does not exist!!
2--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:37
7--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:888 <----- this host does not exist!!
8--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:852 <----- this host does not exist!!
4--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:997 <----- this host does not exist!!
1--host found at:192.168.111.20--time:1107 <----- this host does not exist!!
3--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:38
6--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
5--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
10--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:2
2--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:3 <----- this host does not exist!!
9--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:2
7--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:1
4--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:3
1--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:39
2--done.
1--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:5 <----- this host does not exist!!
1--done.
10--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:40 <----- this host does not exist!!
3--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:192 <----- this host does not exist!!
6--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:75 <----- this host does not exist!!
8--host found at:192.168.111.21--time:230
5--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:155 <----- this host does not exist!!
4--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:78 <----- this host does not exist!!
9--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:77 <----- this host does not exist!!
7--host found at:192.168.111.22--time:76 <----- this host does not exist!!
10--done.
6--done.
4--done.
5--done.
3--done.
7--done.
9--done.
8--no host at:192.168.111.22
8--done.
ALL DONE

Answer 1

I created this test (it's basically the same as your class):
import java.util.*;
import java.net.*;
public class IsReachableTest_2 implements Runnable {
    private final String[] addresses = new String[] {
         "www.sun.com",
         "129.42.16.99" // www.ibm.com which is not reachable
    public void run(){
        try {
            for (int i = 0; i < addresses.length; i++) {
                final long start = System.nanoTime();
                final String address = addresses;
     if (InetAddress.getByName(address).isReachable(5000)) {
     System.out.println(Thread.currentThread().getName() + ": Host found at: " + address +
          " --time: " + (System.nanoTime() - start) / 1000);
     } else System.out.println("no host at: " + address);
} catch(Exception e){
e.printStackTrace();
System.out.println("Thread " + Thread.currentThread().getName() + " DONE");
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println(
     System.getProperty("java.vendor") +
     " " +
     System.getProperty("java.version") +
     " running on " +
     System.getProperty("os.name") +
     " " +
     System.getProperty("os.version")
for (int i = 0; i < 10; i++) {
     final Thread t = new Thread(new IsReachableTest_2(), "THREAD " + (i+1));
     t.start();
And I get:
Sun Microsystems Inc. 1.5.0-beta running on Windows 2000 5.0
THREAD 1: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 217653
THREAD 3: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 214404
THREAD 6: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 214900
THREAD 4: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 215901
THREAD 5: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 216666
THREAD 10: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 216620
THREAD 9: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 217405
THREAD 2: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 220705
THREAD 7: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 220845
THREAD 8: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 221384
no host at: 129.42.16.99
Thread THREAD 4 DONE
no host at: 129.42.16.99
Thread THREAD 6 DONE
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
Thread THREAD 5 DONE
Thread THREAD 10 DONE
Thread THREAD 9 DONE
Thread THREAD 7 DONE
Thread THREAD 3 DONE
Thread THREAD 1 DONE
Thread THREAD 2 DONE
Thread THREAD 8 DONE
HOWEVER: I was getting some strange results every so often. Results like:
Sun Microsystems Inc. 1.5.0-beta running on Windows 2000 5.0
THREAD 3: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 261132
THREAD 9: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 264183
THREAD 2: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 266447
THREAD 6: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 266596
THREAD 8: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 267192
THREAD 5: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 268610
THREAD 4: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 269849
THREAD 1: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 280978
THREAD 7: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 272589
THREAD 10: Host found at: www.sun.com --time: 273162
THREAD 3: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 13657
Thread THREAD 3 DONE
THREAD 4: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 4123
THREAD 2: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 9439
THREAD 5: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 6681
THREAD 8: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 7655
THREAD 6: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 8627
THREAD 9: Host found at: 129.42.16.99 --time: 10586
Thread THREAD 4 DONE
Thread THREAD 2 DONE
Thread THREAD 5 DONE
Thread THREAD 8 DONE
Thread THREAD 6 DONE
Thread THREAD 9 DONE
no host at: 129.42.16.99
Thread THREAD 7 DONE
no host at: 129.42.16.99
no host at: 129.42.16.99
Thread THREAD 10 DONE
Thread THREAD 1 DONE
Usually the first run after I had compiled the class (!?) This isn't a thread safety problem.